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Nothing funny about wartime comic books

By Jim Willard

Posted:
10/17/2013 10:31:56 PM MDT

The years 1946 to 1953 were my prime "comic book" years. Why that period? I'd learned to read (at least well enough for comic books) by age 6, and then I discovered girls at age 13 -- I know they were around before then, but I didn't recognize the fact (at least that's what I told the CEO).

I suppose boys were more attracted to comic books than girls were, although there were a number of titles aimed directly at girls. Examples were "Little Lulu" and "Katy Keene."

Trading comic books was a popular pastime among many of my friends. We would have a stack of trading material and then another of "keepers." Occasionally, you found a "keeper" in one of your friend's trading group, and that was a bonus.

My first "keepers" were early "Pogo Possum" comics and "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories."

As I matured -- still working on it -- my tastes changed to comics focused on action and adventure. At the same time, the U.S. became embroiled in what was to be called "The Korean Conflict." As the country's attention turned to the conflict, some comic book publishers saw an opportunity to appeal to a segment of the comic book-buying community, namely preteen and teenage boys.

EC Comics created two titles to match the interest. "Frontline Combat" featured war stories with an emphasis on Korea and a look back at the recently concluded Second World War. The series was published from 1950 through 1953, when the Korean armistice diminished the public's interest in comics about Korea.

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"Two-Fisted Tales" (also by EC) was a parallel comic to "Frontline Combat"; the term "comic" belied the hard look both publications provided of war. There was nothing humorous in either magazine.

Harvey Kurtzman wrote for both magazines, and his stories frequently displayed an anti-war attitude. Kurtzman had been drafted in 1942, and he knew firsthand the horrors of war. He deplored some of the gung-ho war comics that made war look like a glorious thing.

Kurtzman's stories contained few heroes, and many times his stories weren't about soldiers at all, instead focusing on the lives of ordinary people scarred by the war.

As both comics gained an audience and matured, both magazines featured a number of stories that took place in historical settings, including the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and ancient Rome. Significant research lent an authenticity to the stories.

The country's interest shifted after the Korean War, and "Two-Fisted Tales" went from a bi-monthly publication to a quarterly then quietly ceased publication in 1955.

"Two-Fisted Tales" ran for 24 issues during its four-year run. Just for old times' sake (my collection perished in a flood of my parents' basement), I purchased a "Frontline Combat" anthology a few months ago. It was just as I remembered it among my "keepers."

Levi's "501" jeans came by their name rightfully. The original version contained 501 copper rivets (making them difficult to keep up in today's fashion).

From the wisdom of Groucho: "Well, I hardly know where to begin. I hardly know when to stop, either; just give me a few drinks and see for yourself."

I offer another "politically correct" approach to saying someone's stupid: "The cheese slid off his cracker."

She must have had difficulty coming up with titles (other than numbers). Emily Dickinson wrote 1,700 poems in her lifetime, seven of which were published while she lived.

Jim Willard, a Loveland resident since 1967, retired from Hewlett-Packard after 33 years to focus on less trivial things. He calls Twoey, his bichon frisé-Maltese dog, vice president of research for his column.

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